You know it can't be good when a horror film/thriller features non-stop footage of topless women and striptease acts, as well as a fair number of razorblade murders, and yet still feels like an overall very boring experience. "American Nightmare" certainly isn't a total failure, but if the plot promises a misogynist slasher with obvious giallo-influences, I - for one - expect things to get a lot filthier, bloodier, and more perverse than this. Maybe we should leave it to the Italians to make the genuine giallo?
A man searches for his missing sister, who ran away from their dominant TV-tycoon father and ended up working as a prostitute. She may have fallen victim to the vicious serial killer who's roaming the streets and slicing up sex workers with surgical gloves and a sharp razorblade. But who is the maniac and what is his/her reason for going after the prostitutes? Admittedly, "American Nightmare" holds a couple of nicely demented twists in store during the final act, but it's too little too late to compensate for the previous and dull 75 minutes. The pacing is slow, the kills are too brief & blurry whereas the striptease acts are excessively long, and Michael "Mike" Ironside plays a totally insignificant character.
A man searches for his missing sister, who ran away from their dominant TV-tycoon father and ended up working as a prostitute. She may have fallen victim to the vicious serial killer who's roaming the streets and slicing up sex workers with surgical gloves and a sharp razorblade. But who is the maniac and what is his/her reason for going after the prostitutes? Admittedly, "American Nightmare" holds a couple of nicely demented twists in store during the final act, but it's too little too late to compensate for the previous and dull 75 minutes. The pacing is slow, the kills are too brief & blurry whereas the striptease acts are excessively long, and Michael "Mike" Ironside plays a totally insignificant character.